UK coronavirus live: Birmingham, Kent, Greater Manchester, Newcastle among regions in tier 3 measures

Government website crashes as regions placed in to tier system; weekly infection survey suggests prevalence of coronavirus is declining in England

12.29pm GMT

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, has said while he can see the case for his area being in tier 3, he will be pushing for it to go back to tier 2 after a fortnight.

Greater Manchester’s infection rate is reducing faster than any other part of the country but we have to accept that it is still significantly higher than the England average. That said, if the current rate of improvement continues, we will be asking the government to move our city-region into tier 2 in two week’s time.

What we believe is completely wrong is the government’s decision to provide no additional business support to areas in tier 3 than those in tiers 1 and 2.

The new tier 3 will hit the hospitality sector extremely hard. While there are grants for businesses forced to close, there is no extra support for business which supply them like security, catering and cleaning. This will cause real hardship for people whose jobs will be affected and risk the loss of many businesses.

12.21pm GMT

Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the Lib Dem leader of Portsmouth city council, said that moving his city into tier 2 was “sensible”, but that he hoped it could move down to tier 1 in a fortnight. He said:

It will be very difficult for the hospital industry but we did fear for a while we would go into tier 3.

When we had the free-for-all in the early autumn, our infection rate shot up in young people and that fed up to older people with our infection rates 10 times what they were in the summer so this seems to be the sensible decision to control our infection rates.

Continue reading…Government website crashes as regions placed in to tier system; weekly infection survey suggests prevalence of coronavirus is declining in EnglandWhat tier am I in? Latest Covid rules in England post-lockdownHow three-quarters of Covid contacts slip through cracksFootball fans can return in Liverpool and LondonHancock’s former neighbour won test kit work after WhatsApp messageTier 1 explained | Tier 2 explained | Tier 3 explainedCoronavirus – latest updates 12.29pm GMTAndy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, has said while he can see the case for his area being in tier 3, he will be pushing for it to go back to tier 2 after a fortnight.Greater Manchester’s infection rate is reducing faster than any other part of the country but we have to accept that it is still significantly higher than the England average. That said, if the current rate of improvement continues, we will be asking the government to move our city-region into tier 2 in two week’s time.What we believe is completely wrong is the government’s decision to provide no additional business support to areas in tier 3 than those in tiers 1 and 2.The new tier 3 will hit the hospitality sector extremely hard. While there are grants for businesses forced to close, there is no extra support for business which supply them like security, catering and cleaning. This will cause real hardship for people whose jobs will be affected and risk the loss of many businesses. 12.21pm GMTGerald Vernon-Jackson, the Lib Dem leader of Portsmouth city council, said that moving his city into tier 2 was “sensible”, but that he hoped it could move down to tier 1 in a fortnight. He said:It will be very difficult for the hospital industry but we did fear for a while we would go into tier 3.When we had the free-for-all in the early autumn, our infection rate shot up in young people and that fed up to older people with our infection rates 10 times what they were in the summer so this seems to be the sensible decision to control our infection rates. Continue reading…